Former CEO John Sculley Reflects on Steve Jobs and Apple's Past and Future

Apple is now able to reach for its future in technology, thanks to the path laid by Steve Jobs, says a former company CEO, John Sculley.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- On a week filled with news of Apple Music and iOS 9 releases from Apple's (AAPL) at its 2015 worldwide developers conference, a former CEO said the company is able to look to the future, thanks to the foundation set by Steve Jobs.

Former CEO John Sculley reflected on his relationship with Jobs during his Apple tenure. Serving as CEO at Apple from the early 1980s through the early 1990s, Sculley recently wrote Moonshot!, a bookabout business leadership and opportunity. Sculley said he spent five months getting to know Steve Jobs.

Exclusive Look Inside:You see Jim Cramer on TV. Now, see where he invests his money and why AAPL is a core holding of his multi-million dollar portfolio. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells AAPL? Learn more now.

Apple's board went through about 20 candidates and passed over Jobs.

Sculley said he was brought to Apple for his marketing skills (he had served as the CEO of Pepsi (PEP) where he had launched the Pepsi Challenge) and so he couuld serve as Job's partner while he developed the Macintosh. Sculley said that beyond being business colleagues, the two became good friends; Jobs was focused on building Apple and didn't have time for many relationships.

Yet Sculley said their relationship soured after the introduction of Macintosh Office, which didn't work very well.

Sculley maintained that Jobs was never fired from Apple but that members of the board asked him to step down. At that point in time, Jobs was a visionary but not a business leader, according to Sculley.